BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- There were about 400 fewer trauma deaths in Alabama in 2011 compared with 2006, according to a joint study by the Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Hospital Association.

The report credits the creation of a statewide trauma system in 2007 for the decline in deaths from life-threatening injuries -- about 80 percent of which are caused by traffic accidents.

A trauma system is a network of emergency medical technicians, hospital emergency department staff, trauma surgeons and other providers that links critical patients with the closest appropriate hospital for treatment.

"Most injuries are minor and the patients do not need to be taken to a trauma center, but for the 10 percent with life-threatening injuries, the right care at the right facility in the shortest amount of time can mean the difference between life and death," John Campbell, retired state emergency services medical director and trauma system advocate, said in a statement about the report.

For 2011 -- the latest full year of statistics -- the death rate for motor vehicle accidents dropped to 18.05 per 100,000, down from 27.64 per 100,000 in 2006, according to the report.

Accident victims in rural areas are twice as likely to die from their injuries, the report states.

Between 2010 and 2011, the number of accidents involving traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries increased by 45 percent. Deaths from such injuries have not increased proportionately, according to the report.

"These data indicate that Alabama's capacity to handle such accidents has greatly increased," the report concludes.